Fallback: Enterprise
by Ryan Johnson
Summary: Chace Verble is a brilliant strategist, but he holds some dark secrets with his talent, secrets that make young James Kirk and Bones unsure of just how trust worthy Cadet Verble really is.


I do not pretend to own Star Trek. Actually yes I do, I quite enjoy running around claiming that it was I that invented Trek, but, alas, it is not true. Many character in this are my own, however. I will update chapters as I write them, so this is a very improvisational fan-fiction. Enjoy and pretty please review.

* * *

Universes spiraled, realities twisted, figures exist, then expire, and all of these things completely beyond the understanding and the grasp of young Chace Griffin. All he really did know was the face of his mother and the taste of apple mush. His minute feet kicked out and a cry left his infant mouth, then his green eyes opened and took in the familiar yet always strange surroundings. He was in a baby's bedroom, with baby blue walls and a small mobile of starships spinning endlessly over Chace's head. With a squeal Chace threw his hand forward to the starships, but couldn't reach them.

Again he tried with another baby grunt of effort, little squeaks of air as he threw his useless arms upwards over and over. His mind couldn't quite understand the bodily actions that Chace was undertaking, the simply need to hold the ships, to explore their odd round shapes, to feel the gray plastic that circled just above him. Then, as he reached again, Chace heard a voice, a man's voice.

"Honey, get Chace, go to the HV now!" The man shouted. Chace couldn't understand what the sounds meant.

"What's wrong? George what's happening?" His mother asked frantically "What's going on?"

"Just go!" The man shouted back.

The raised voices scared Chace. He began to cry. The sounds of his infantile anguish filled the room and scared him even further, and seemed to make his mother come to his side quicker than Chace was used to. The baby boy turned his out of proportion head and wailed out more, but stopped as he saw the face of his beautiful young mother staring back at him. Despite the soothing touch of her hand, Chace could tell something was wrong, that she was frightened and worried and her cries of "Don't worry, shhh don't worry" seemed to be more for her own benefit than Chace's.

"Shh, its okay Chace. Nothing is wrong," She continued.

The boy's eyes rolled past his mother's face and to the sky. They were outside now, Chace couldn't seem to remember how he had gotten there, but his mother was holding him, covered in a blanket and looking much like a bundle of blankets. The ground was shaking and tossing the world around Chace and his mother in and out of focus.

There was a man looking at Chace's mother. "Lisa," he called and held out his hand, beckoning them towards him.

Chace's mother turned to the voice.

Chace slowly turned his head as well.

A blast of green send a hover car into flames and shrapnel.

Blood sprayed the grass.

The man fell.

"George! George!" Chace's mother shouted.

* * *

Chace Verble gasped. His body shot up into a sitting position. He felt like he had just been dunked under water for a long time. Breath was coming very fast and his eyes were stinging, making vision blurry. Sweat gushed from his pores and the wet sensation just added to the underwater effect. Blue lights casting odd shadows across the ground also added to the effect, but Chace ignored all of this. He wiped the salty sweat from his eyes and his vision cleared, revealing a small blue room. In it were two bunks, each against a wall parallel to each other. Scattered across these bunks were bits and pieces of Starfleet Academy uniforms. Although the tossed items seemed to invoke the idea of chaos, the image was oddly formal and orderly.

_Ordered chaos._ Chace thought as he got to his feet wearily. A bit of blanket fell from his lap to the floor, but he paid no attention to it. Room inspection wasn't for another night, so he ignored the disarray as he started to put on his neat and trim uniform. It was a red abomination. It looked quite spiffy when worn correctly, but it was very scratchy and uncomfortable, something that the cadets complained endlessly about. Chace's roommate, Jacob Edwards, had dubbed it the Red Wool Condom. It was the sort of crass joke Chace had come to expect from a Cadet, but Chace was not one for crude humor. He liked to think his was more refined, just like his particular set of skills.

Chace was without equal in strategy.

Or at least that's what his professors liked to think, liked to say, and liked to tell others about. His perfection, his keen sense.

Chace finished his uniform, and then set out for the simulation barracks. He knew what was coming and guessed that it was his next test that had led to his dream. He was about to undertake the _Kobayashi Maru, _the unwinnable test. It was widely known to be unwinnable and even the professors said so. It was to build character. Chace had yet to expiereince the test, and was very nervous, but he had no idea as to why. Why be nervous for a test that doesn't matter?

_But it does matter._ He thought.

_Why?_

_Because it does._

_You aren't making any sense._

_I know, I know but I care. Dunno why I do, but I do and that's that._

_Why even try?_

Chace stopped walking. This thought hadn't occurred to him. Why didn't people just not try, if they knew it was unwinnable. Why didn't cadets just walk in and sit down, take some time to relax while they hear explosions left and right. It was completely useless, utterly pointless. And if everyone knew it was fake, how could it even be a test of character? Some may think that continuing even when all hope is lost is an admirable quality, and Chace agreed with that, but if it was just a test, a silly little mind game, wouldn't the true stupidity be in attempting it in the first place?

"Slow the hell up Verble!" Someone shouted from behind Chace. He had reached the top of the stairs to the sim barracks, but turned to face the oncomer. It was Edwards.

Cadet Jacob Edwards was a tall and bulky giant with a head like a cinderblock but oddly delicate hands. Those hands also lent greatly towards medical emergencies, which had pushed Jacob Edwards to the top of the medical corp of Cadets.

"What?" Chace asked.

"You are in for the BS Maru, right?" Edwards asked.

"I am."

"Mind if I sit in?" Jacob looked right into Chace's eyes.

Chace looked back, unsure of what Jacob meant. "As what?"

"Medical bay?"

"There is no medical bay in the simulation."

"Oh I know," Edwards winked, "I just want to see you take on this piece of meat."


End file.
